The head of the Central Court of Instruction number 6 of the National Court, Manuel García Castellón , has agreed at the request of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor that the legal representation of BBVA comes to declare as a legal person investigated in the 'Villarejo case' on September 24 , according to sources consulted by Europa Press.

The citation, signed by the reinforcement judge Alejandro Abascal in the absence of the head of the court, occurs after the magistrate accepted the Anticorruption petition to investigate the financial entity for the contracts he held with companies of the commissioner now retired and in prison José Manuel Villarejo provisional over 13 years and for an estimated amount of more than 10 million euros.

Specifically, BBVA, which unsuccessfully requested to appear in the case as a legal entity injured, is investigated for alleged bribery crimes, revelation of secrets and corruption in business by orders ranging from alleged espionage tasks to thwart entry into the bank of the construction company Sacyr, to stop the alleged extortion of a consumer association by analyzing the situation of defaulters such as Martinsa or Prasa.

BBVA is investigated in the ninth separate piece of this macrocause that already has 13 different lines and is expected to exceed twenty before the end of the year, given the multitude of 'projects' and customers of the mafia "parapolicial clan" that Villarejo would have been leading through his companies and of which he recorded in the more than 40 terabytes of information that was intervened when he was arrested, in November 2017.

To date, a dozen senior bank officials when these contracts were signed have been called to testify as investigated in the National Court, including the former CEO of the entity, Angel Cano, and the former Chief of Security, Julio Corrochano , who is presumed to be Villarejo's interlocutor and for whom the judge imposed a bail of 300,000 euros.

In addition, his substitute in the position, Inés Díaz Ochagavia, is being investigated; the group leader in the Security team of the Nazario Campo Campuzano bank; the director of the Commercial Banking Network at the Ignacio Pérez Caballero entity; the one that was head of Risks for Spain and Portugal and later responsible for BBVA Real Estate Antonio Béjar González, the member until 2018 of the Management Committee Ricardo Gómez Barredo and his former director of Finance, Javier Malagón Navas.

All except for Béjar, who has already attended the National Court twice and has given a statement, have been accepting their right to remain silent because of the secrecy of the proceedings, which prevents those affected from knowing what works in the case Against them.

However, BBVA has been announcing its absolute willingness to collaborate with justice, to which it would have already submitted a 'forensic' report expressly commissioned to know the details of relations with the mercantile of Villarejo during the stage under the magnifying glass, when he presided the entity Francisco González .

The Pérez y Cía shipping company, on September 25

In the same week in which the bank's representation has been cited and also at the request of Anti-Corruption, the court has summoned another legal entity that would have been a client of Villarejo. This is the Pérez y Cía shipping company, which paid Cenyt group companies up to 7.4 million euros to thwart a cause of corruption in Guatemala and the extradition that could lead to its president, Ángel Pérez Maura. The citation is for September 25, according to the same legal sources.

These citations add to the intense calendar of declarations promoted by the Prosecutor's Office in September to continue advancing in the instruction of the macrocause, in which, in addition, it has been agreed to lift the secret on one of the most unknown pieces, number 8, which investigates the complaint of a businessman from Marbella about his relationship with Villarejo and whose stakeholders may declare with knowledge of the proceedings.

The 'course' of the Tandem case will start on September 5 with the citation of the former head of the Aliens and Frontiers Unit of the Police, Carlos Salamanca; I nvestigated in piece 1 and in the main piece of the case and that in previous statements he assured that the thousands of euros he used in cash between 2011 and 2013 - without touching his bank accounts - responded to cash funds that he estimated around 225,000 euros that he had been keeping at home the result of his work and for reasons of "security" since 2003. This statement could carry documentation to support his statements, according to sources close to the case.

On the same September 5, another of the police commanders linked to the criminal organization of Villarejo, the former head of the Central Operational Support Unit (UCAO) of the Enrique García Castaño Police, returns, which is dotted in several of the lines of investigation for the reserved police information that he would have provided to Villarejo for his assignments, taking advantage of his status as a public official.

He will also be followed in court by the policeman Manuel Novoa, a supposed collaborator of Villarejo who already said last February in the judge that his role was limited to searching the police databases for information requested by his commanders. On some occasion, as he revealed, through a note in a 'post-it', without knowing the objective of the research, and without receiving a bonus for it.

Also on day 5, the Treasury official Antonio Chaparro Luque has been summoned; to César Bilbao Delgado explained - in front of the Banking Security area of ​​BBVA - and there is an active sub-inspector, since his professional card number is revealed, not his identity, all of them for bribery offenses and revelation of secrets.

For September 23, the retired Police officer Antonio Bonilla Martínez - who worked in a second activity for the Villarejo company - was summoned as investigated, and the police officer José María Serrano Ydigoras and Constancio Riaño, a chief inspector who appears in an exchange of emails that appear in the summary as the person who collected BBVA customer data that the commissioner would later use in his business.

Finally, on the 26th, the Central Court of Instruction number 6 has cited as witnesses, as being harmed by the activities of the retired commissioner in prison, Olof Fickert, María Luisa Luis Calero and Mario Capitán García.

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  • BBVA
  • National audience
  • Spain
  • José Manuel Villarejo
  • Portugal
  • Corruption
  • Brugal Case

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